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10,000 Small Businesses UK Graduates First Cohort in the Midlands

On April 25, the first cohort of small business and social enterprise leaders graduated from the 10,000 Small Businesses UKprogram in the Midlands.

The UK program, which also operates in Yorkshire, the North West and London, is designed to boost local economic growth and job creation through providing a combination of targeted, high-quality, practical business education and support services to small businesses and social enterprises from across the Midlands region.

The twenty-five businesses in the first graduating cohort represent a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, business services, technology, retail and education. They were recruited from across the Midlands—including Birmingham, Coventry, Walsall, Solihull and Leicester—and range in size from approximately £200,000 in turnover to over £3 million.

Professor Mark Hart from Aston Business School, a globally recognized expert in entrepreneurship and small business performance, is the academic lead for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program in the Midlands. He said: “The West Midlands has a large number of entrepreneurs across a range of business sectors including social enterprises, and we are proud that some of the best in the region are here graduating today. We are anticipating that they will now move quickly forward with their business growth plans and we have high hopes that they will deliver much-needed additional wealth and jobs for this area.”

Applications are currently open for the third cohort of the 10,000 Small Businesses program in the Midlands, which will take place between October 2012 and February 2013. For more information and application materials, visit: www.aston.ac.uk/10ksb.